KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Thursday remanded former MNA Alamgir Khan Mehsud of the opposition party Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in police custody for one day.

Last month, the ATC-XV judge canceled bail bonds in the May 9 cases and issued non-bailable warrants for the arrest of 11 top party leaders from Karachi after dismissing their condonation applications.

The investigating officer (IO) probing the May 9 case, registered at the Ferozabad police station, produced the “Fix-it” activist before the ATC judge at the judicial complex in Central Prison Karachi.

Subsequently, the link ATC judge remanded Alamgir into police custody for one day and directed the IO to produce him before the relevant court on Friday (today).

Defence counsel Zahooruddin Mehsud told Dawn that initially, Alamgir’s family members were unaware of his whereabouts. They later learned that he had been taken into custody by the Ferozabad police in connection with the May 9 case after the cancellation of his bail bond.

On Wednesday, the PTI leader was picked up from his Gulshan-i-Iqbal residence.

Four identical cases have been registered against PTI leaders under various sections of the Pakistan Penal Code, including Sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapons), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of the offense committed in prosecution of a common object), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 337-A (punishment for Shujja), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from discharge of duty), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 435 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to cause damage worth one hundred rupees), and 109 (abetment).

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2024